Serum HIV-1 RNA levels and time to development of AIDS in the Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study

Normal women produce small amounts of active androgens. When androgen levels are elevated, such as for example in the polycystic ovary syndrome, this is followed by the development of male physical characteristics and muscle mass, structure and function as well as android adipose tissue distribution and function. Psychological features and stress reactions also seem similar to those of men. Such women have an increased risk of developing hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Recent data have shown that these physical, and psychological characteristics, as well as risk of ill health, are also found in the population of women selected at random. Women in the lowest quintiles of levels of sex-hormone-binding globulin--an indicator inversely related to active androgens--are at risk of developing hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular mortality. The mechanism probably includes muscular insulin resistance, following a relative androgen excess. It is thus apparent that androgens, even within the highest levels of the nonselected population of women, are powerful predictors of serious disease development. The population at risk might be as large as about 20% of middle-aged women. This is an area of female disease risk which requires more attention in screening and intervention procedures.     

Lightning return stroke current identification via field measurements

 An inverse procedure is presented for identifying and reconstructing the waveform of the lightning return stroke current. It is based only on the acquisition of the electromagnetic field radiated by the discharge channel in various locations on the ground and at various frequencies, and requires no information about the channel base current. The fundamental idea is shown to come from an electrostatic problem in which the linear charge density of a vertical thin wire is determined starting from the measured field. Three versions of this procedure have been developed: in the first, the identification is carried out by means of the measurement of the electric field at various distances from the lightning channel at a given frequency; in the second, only two sensors for the electric field are necessary, but various sampling frequencies; in the third, only one observation point is needed, for the measurement of both the electric and the magnetic field. A simulated validation of all the approaches is provided as well as a detailed analysis of their numerical accuracy. Received: 4 April 2001/Accepted: 30 April 2001     

A new FEM approach for field and torque simulation of electrostatic microactuators

A novel finite-element method (FEM) floating-conductor formulation for the numerical electromagnetic analysis of electrostatic microactuators is presented and discussed in this paper. It is based on the assumption that the moving part of the microdevice can be modeled as a perfect conductor and leads to a considerable reduction of the mesh size, as the region occupied by the moving part does not need to be discretized at all. It is also shown that the developed formulation can be easily coupled with the well-known method of equivalent charges for the computation of the driving torque acting upon the rotor of the microdevice. This coupling is performed directly in terms of variables involved in the solution process of the final algebraic system and it allows acquiring torque information without any postprocessing operation. The proposed approach has been applied to the analysis of an electrostatic micromotor with radial field. When compared to simulations obtained with a commercial FEM electromagnetic code using a classical high-permittivity formulation, this method proves to be accurate and exhibits an overall reduction of preprocessing, processing and postprocessing time.     

The isothermal section of the La–Si–Mg system at 500 C

The isothermal section of the La–Si–Mg system at 500 ^°C was constructed in the whole concentration range by means of the SEM-EDXS and XRPD characterization of about forty alloys prepared by induction melting and then annealed. Phase equilibria are characterized by the following ternary phases: τ₁-La_2+xSi₂Mg_1−x (0≤x≤0.35,tP10-Mo₂FeB₂), τ₂-LaSi₂Mg₂ (tP5-CeSi₂Mg₂), τ₃-LaSi₂Mg (structure still unknown) and τ₄-La₆SiMg₂₃ (cF120-Zr₆SiZn₂₃). The high temperature binary phase LaMg₂ (cF24-MgCu₂) has been found to be stabilized at 500 ^°C probably by a small amount of Si. Phases in binary subsystems do not generally form extended ternary solid solutions except for (La_1−xMg_x)₃Si₂ (0≤x≤0.167,tP10-U₃Si₂). Crystal structures of phases τ₁-La_2+xSi₂Mg_1−x and (La_1−xMg_x)₃Si₂ are correlated, the former being a substitution derivative of the latter.     

Albumin exchange and polymorphonuclear vascular transit in hyperoxic pulmonary oedema in awake rats

Vascular inflammatory response to hyperoxia (FIO2 greater than 0.98) was studied in awake jugular and carotid catheterized rats. Simultaneous i.v. injection of 125I albumin (125I A), 99mTc polymorphonuclear cells (99mTc PMN) and 51Cr red blood cells (51Cr RBC) allowed to study both the macromolecule exchange through vascular endothelium and the leukocyte uptake by several organs (liver, lungs, spleen) with respect to radiolabelled red blood cells, as an intravascular reference. Rats were exposed to O2 for 24, 38 and 45 h. They were anesthetized and killed by exanguination 15 to 120 min following the tracer injection. After 45 h exposure, the plasmatic 125I A half-life decreased significantly (158 +/- 42 min for the control; 106 +/- 34 min for the exposed animals). The ratio 125I A/51Cr RBC varied significantly in the lung. The iodinated albumin exchange through lung vascular endothelium was altered at the 24th h, with a significant difference reached by the 45th h. At the same time, the pulmonary decreasing curve of 99mTc/51Cr RBC ratio versus time was not not modified. In our experimental conditions, there was no detectable variation in the lung uptake and vascular transit of PMN cells. The discussion of the results must be related with the technics used in the present work when the albumin exchange increased.     

Understanding User Satisfaction With Instant Messaging: An Empirical Survey Study

The current article examines user satisfaction with instant messaging in building and maintaining social relationships with friends, family members, and others. The research model integrates motivation theory with media capacity theories to explain how the attributes of media capacity (e.g., social presence and media richness) and users' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations toward using instant messaging influence user satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of 247 Chinese university students via an online survey. The results suggest that perceived enjoyment, perceived social presence, and perceived usefulness are key to user satisfaction. Perceived social presence and perceived media richness are positively associated with perceived enjoyment. It was also found that perceived enjoyment, perceived social presence, and perceived media richness have significant effects on perceived usefulness. Of interest, perceived enjoyment and perceived social presence have stronger effects on user satisfaction than perceived usefulness.     

Relationship between plasma phospholipid transfer protein activity and HDL subclasses among patients with low HDL and cardiovascular disease

NK lysin is a 9-kDa polypeptide that was originally isolated from porcine intestinal tissue based on its antibacterial activity. It is produced by cytolytic lymphocytes and is cytolytic against a number of different types of tumor cells. Here we report the binding of NK lysin to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and its anti-LPS activity. NK lysin binds to matrix-coated LPS from Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and different strains of Salmonella enterica. Lipid A and polymyxin B inhibited the binding, demonstrating a preferential interaction of NK lysin with the lipid part of LPS. Chromium-labeled lymphoma cells were lysed by NK lysin, and LPS dose-dependently inhibited the cytolysis at equimolar amounts. In the same manner, NK lysin inhibited certain LPS-stimulated effects on mouse bone marrow cells as well as LPS binding to mouse granulocytes. These results suggest that NK lysin may be a another natural LPS-binding protein from lymphocytes that may participate in the endogenous defense response associated with elevated concentrations of LPS.